Guianan bearded saki

Appearance

The name gives you a clue about their looks: all Guianan bearded sakis, male and female, have lovely dark beards. The beards on the males are a bit bigger than on the females. In addition, you can recognize Guianan bearded sakis by the ‘buns’ on their head. Between these ‘buns’ they have a comb of powerful chewing muscles. This comes in very handy for the Guianan bearded sakis, because they love eating hard nuts and seeds. In addition, Guianan bearded sakis have thick brown fur. This is great protection against the tropical showers where these primates live in the wild. And finally, they have dark, brush-like tails.

Habitat 

Guianan bearded sakis live in the wild in Surinam, Guiana and northern Brazil. They live in the higher parts of the rainforests and savanna woodlands.

Lifestyle

Guianan bearded sakis live in large social groups. These groups consist of multiple adult males and females. There are usually 25-55 primates in a group of Guianan bearded sakis.

Behaviour

Little is known about how Guianan bearded sakis behave. That is because they have not been studied much. Guianan bearded sakis live in areas that are difficult to access. They also live in large groups and are not always easy to spot. What we do know is that Guianan bearded sakis play with and groom each other less than other primate species. So they do not display much positive social behaviour. There is also no clear ‘leader’ in their groups. Guianan bearded sakis spend most of their time foraging for food. In the wild, a large group will split up into smaller groups that go in search of tasty morsels. They reunite at the end of the day. This is also known as fission-fusion and is also seen in groups of spider monkeys.

Reproduction

There is also not much information available on how Guianan bearded sakis reproduce. The males probably mate with multiple females. So the males are not involved much in raising the young. For the first two months of its life, a newborn Guianan bearded saki spends most of its time on its mother’s belly. After that, the young primate moves onto her back. It only begins to explore the world around it after about five months. Although adult Guianan bearded sakis do not have a great deal of contact with each other, the females are very interested in the babies. The males also enjoy playing with the young primates.

Situation in the wild

The status of Guianan bearded sakis in the wild has never been officially investigated by the IUCN, the world’s largest nature conservation organisation. Though currently, the Guianan bearded sakis are classified as ‘not endangered’.

At Apenheul

Apenheul started with two male Guianan bearded saki’s in 2017. This was a special moment, as bearded saki’s can only be seen in a handful of zoos worldwide. In 2023, one of the males was relocated to make place for a female. And 8 months later, we were able to welcome a young one! That makes Apenheul one of the three zoos in europe that has been able to bring in offspring of this bearded saki species. 

Population management programme 

Apenheul is part of the European endangered species programme (EEP) for Guinian bearderd saki’s. By working together with other zoos we ensure a genetically healthy and demographically stable population of this species is maintained in zoos.

Fun facts

• Guianan bearded sakis are a rare sight in zoos: they only live in small number of European zoos.
• Guianan bearded sakis love hard nuts and seeds. They can open and chew them themselves, using their special incisors and canines. In other words, their teeth are like nutcrackers!
• All Guianan bearded sakis have beards, both males and females. The beard on the males often bigger than the ones on the females.